I’m sorry to hear things had to turn out this way. And to be honest game developers were one of the groups of developers i was worried about most.
I can only hope things will get better but i never was the optimist. My only backup plan is to hope linux phones get good enough to replace this one. Until then i just use my GrapheneOS phone as a stop gap while buying time. And use Arch linux on desktop. I have been considering replacing it with Artix linux but i am waiting on that for the time being. Either way desktop Linux has definitely become good enough to where i can find solace in using it. (i actually already have.) It’s mainly the mobile ecosystem where i feel an extreme lack of solace. But to be honest i felt that even before this. I never liked Google. The only thing that even made Android tolerable for me was all the OSS developement or indie developers and F-Droid to hold it all in place for me. But that still leaves the system. And worse GMS. I don’t include GMS on my device but even then it still finds ways to ruin everything cause of how deeply a lot of apps expect it. And how much they exert their corrupt power through it.
Either way assume everything goes well i hope maybe we’ll see you around here again one day. I hope maybe i’ll still be around here. So long as F-Droid lives on probably. But we’ll see. Also lastly. I hope your games will come out great. And if there’s any silver lining i think it would be cool to see them developed as Linux executables for ARM even if not the ideal. Hope everything goes well with that.
Yes, some users are indeed not available to both learn side-loading and install an alternative to Android.
No, because a quick and easy alternative is for users to simply pay someone to side-load and install it for them. I mean, simply click a few buttons to order a phone pre-installed with an alternative to Android. Then, immediately enjoy games on their device.
Four device suppliers: Librem, PinePhone, AbovePhone, SHIFT.
Among those four suppliers above, only AbovePhone and Shift support F-Droid. I also included Librem and PinePhone devices for those who need a alternative that does NOT have any dependency on Google’s Android or Google’s forced hardware which risks to spy on you.
Below is the same as above. But with direct link to their store and details.
The risk with all those suppliers above is that the people who are assembling the device and installing the operating system on it are probably total strangers to you.
To resolve this challenge above, both assemble and install by yourself. I mean, for those who are available to both learn and install an alternative to Android. So that you get stronger security and stronger privacy. I suggest considering installing either https://mobian.org or https://plasma-mobile.org on any device to your liking. A device which does NOT have any hardware or software dependency on any Google’s product.
Disclaimer: The above suppliers are not an endorsement. I do not have a financial conflict of interest with any of the products listed above. My feelings and thoughts are my owns. Not those of any organization or business.
Ignore this line. This is a note to myself: R2T3A6D3
Thanks for asking. My central point is the risk with the Google permanent hardware. The keyword here is “risk” In other words, devices powered by Google’s forced hardware risks to spy on you. If you not familiar with the word “alleged”, within that context it means a “risk”.
What the sources are saying is that since 2016, according to Google themselves, they started to add Google’s permanent hardware in their Google Devices. Pixels phones, etc. Legally speaking, Google owns and fully controls the engineering of their permanent hardware. Most of Google’s permament hardware is NOT open source. So after sale, users can’t review Google’s hardware blueprint for any secret “backdoors”, proxy-control, vulnerabilities, and other security risks. This means it is not just a risk that Google Android software spy on you. If you use a Google phone, even if you completely remove the Android software and replace it with an alternative, since 2016, it is both Google hardware and software that risk to spy on you. Hardware can not be removed from those Google’s devices.
Related to the above, the easier and most obvious example, are the Google Pixel phones. Per my comment up above, “It is permanent. Such as, but not limited to [Google’s hardware] Pixel Neural Core, Tensor, Tensor G2 to G5, Titan, Titan M, Titan M2 Titan Security Key chips, and any Pixel phones. Google hardware means that with any phones that use Google hardware, Google could still spy on you. Regardless of any Android launcher you use.”
The keyword above is “could”. In other words, a risk. Obviously, higher risks are bad for you. Lower risk is the better for you.
I suggest choosing any devices to your liking that do NOT have any Google hardware.
For convenience, I am re-adding here the sources about Google’s phone permanent hardware plan started in 2016:
Thanks for the transparency and clear point of view. I do like that.
You strike some fair valid points and i can see why one may want to steer clear.
And thanks for the detailed phone listings in your previous post too. It’s really nice to be able to evaluate and see these options without having to search all over the place.
Keep in mind that with the Pinephone, it is almost discontinued. The devices are already legacy with minimal support, such as a barely functioning camera. Perhaps a new Pinephone is on the horizon, but for now, you will likely get a poorly supported refurbished phone. Most pinephones are ‘sold out’.
Too modern, that’s all I have to say, plus a MASSIVE PHP vulnerability was discovered, knocking out 75% of the Internet in just 1 day, that’s a bad sign that modernization has essentially put the entire Internet on a proprietary system run by big tech, like CloudFlare, phpbb, and numerous other big proprietary corporations. That’s why we need to stop modernizing, and instead find alternatives to reduce this dependency on proprietary libraries and systems.
This ought to flare up more concerns regarding Android & Google, since Google is shoving more proprietary systems & libraries into Android as a whole, and even GrapheneOS can’t hold it off forever, all because Google wants to completely dictate what our screens look like, what we use every day, and how they get our most sensitive information. It’s a horrible reality isn’t it F-Droid community? FOSS didn’t take this into consideration, and I now understand why, because if we try to break off the proprietary system, it becomes more difficult to stay relevant. That’s why the past always wins, old UIs are what worked for everybody, because of one saying: “If it ain’t broke, DON’T FIX IT”
I nearly had forgotten about phpbb, nice it is still around. But it is neither modern, nor proprietary, nor big tech. Nor is it in any way related to Android or Google.
@MAU: This is misleading information. What is the URL to the source? And who communicated to you that misleading information?
A temporarily slow down in production and almost discontinued are not to be confused.
According to the official Pine64 source, which is the manufacturer of PinePhone, starting in 2025, they TEMPORARILY slow down production of some of their PinePhone. Due to ongoing shortage of DRAM and eMMC components. In the second half of 2027, Pine64 planned to RESUME their production conditional to the prices for RAM and flash drives is back to normal. So time will tell.
Sources are down below.
The devices are already legacy with minimal support
This is false information. Still according to the official Pine64 source, their support is NOT affected.
“It is important to note that PINE64 does not leave the Linux ecosystem and does not stop software support for existing hardware. The company only suspends production of new devices until the situation on the component market improves.”
The pinephone has the same parts for years and things like getting the camera working are still an issue. (New) Pinephones have been out of production for a while and now there is a fresh batch of old phones with ancient hardware in the pipeline? Lovely. It took years just to get the Pinpehone to make and receive calls. Is the effing camera working yet? If you want to push lemons on people, by all means. But I would not recommend the Pinephone to anyone. Pineohone is not a viable alternatie, I direct the reader to simply type “pinephone review” in Youtube and see how old the reviews are.
Am delighted to be wrong and told, “New Pinephone with updated specs are coming! The camera works! You can make / receive calls! Data works! You can connect to software repo such-and-such!”
